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Remember, Yves, you live in Canada. And the lawyers there may
interpret the laws differently. But it does not matter what the lawyers
say. It matters what the judges say.
I live in the USA, specifically in Santa Clara ("Silicon") Valley,
California. I don't think I need to remind you that literally thousands
of the major computer-related companies are right here. The lawyers
here, including my company lawyer, say it's valid and enforceable and
that there have been cases in court already that have validated the law.
Far be it from me to argue with them.
I don't know what tools you use in your writing, but if you're a tech
writer, check out Adobe's (Frame, Acrobat, Pagemaker, etc) license
agreements. They're on line. And remember, Adobe is right here in San
Jose.
But I'll amend my statement a bit. What I said applies in the USA and
may apply in other countries.
I cannot say how all countries treat legal statements made in the USA,
but I believe that many countries, including Canada, have legal
treaties, trade agreements, or similar agreements with the USA regarding
software piracy, copyright, etc, laws. If you read the papers, you'll
note that there have been several stories lately regarding black market
software, games, and even movies (the movie Titanic was specifically
mentioned), in China and the US has threatened to sanction them if they
don't police this themselves.
-dg
----------
From: Yves Jeaurond [SMTP:yves_jeaurond -at- CBC -dot- CA]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 1998 9:42 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Unenforceable legalese in manuals
Dick:
You wrote: < One thing to remember (...) if your company ships
software in a
sealed container of some kind (...) with a notice on the
container that the
user should read the terms of the software license agreement
before opening the
container, you must make that licence agreement easily findable
and readable. >
Sorry. I still haven't met a lawyer that believes that such
"unacknowledged"
and "unwitnessed" summons constitute an "agreement" between
parties. It is
unenforceable and so making it clearly visible may be a moot
point.
